Saturday Rave: The Name, by Steve Wadsworth.

Selby is a town in North Yorkshire, England.

It was founded by the Vikings (as you can tell from the by at the end of its name) on the banks of the River Ouse.

Selby has a magnificent abbey:

and, although Selby may not have made the biggest impact on world affairs, don't be deceived into thinking it's a sleepy backwater. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
Selby District Council (Your 'Excellent' Council) is building a new Leisure Centre.

Now, the old one was called after the abbey (see above), but obviously some new and thrusting appellation was required for the new building, and so a competition was launched to find one.

The excitement has been intense, but now I can bring to you the result of the competition, as announced in Selby District Council's newsletter.

'The winner of the exciting competition to name the new leisure centre in Selby has received the prize of a year’s free membership from leisure provider WLCT.

Steve Wadsworth chose the name Selby Leisure Centre for the facility, which is set to open in Spring 2015.'

So there we are: concise, clear, and comprehensible.

I vote for Steve Wadsworth as a Language Hero of our time.

Word To Use Today: leisure. This word comes from the Old French leisir, and before that from the Latin licēre, to be allowed.